Category: Alaska News

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Zack Fields was listening to a speech by Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III when he got fed up.

Fields scribbled a note on a nearby sheet of paper: “ICE out of Alaska” and held it up on the House floor for a few minutes while Begich spoke to lawmakers. 

That simple act riled Republicans, who sought to officially reprimand Fields and kicked off a sequence of events that roiled the state House this week and snarled legislative business for a day.

“That was probably not the best or most effective way to, you know, bear witness to the horror that ICE is inflicting on America,” Fields said in an interview Wednesday, the day after Begich’s speech. “But, you know, thinking about my kids, that was the one thing that I could do at that moment that didn’t interrupt the speech or get more dramatic.”

Begich, Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been generally supportive of President Donald Trump’s administration, including the use of federal agents to aggressively imprison people and remove them from the country.

Some federal agents have acted violently, shooting 14 people in Minnesota, and killing two. Agents in other states have also killed unarmed American citizens and noncitizens.

Begich did not mention those shootings during his speech, instead repeating the Trump administration’s stated justification for the immigration crackdown — that it is intended to address drug trafficking.

“Nick Begich was going on about fentanyl and ICE, and it’s just not right,” Fields said. “That just completely outraged me, because ICE is arresting random children and adults who have been here for years, following the law, founding local businesses. I just thought it was grossly misrepresentative, outrageous, and I got angry about it because my kid, my kids, go to school with a bunch of families who are worried they’re going to be kidnapped or separated from their children.”

Fields’ sign was not visible to the Gavel Alaska cameras in the chamber and does not appear in a recording of Begich’s speech.

Neither Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, nor Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, saw the sign. Both were seated behind Begich as he spoke.

Hours after Fields held up his sign, members of the House’s all-Republican minority issued a statement denouncing his action, saying that it violated legislative rules and decorum.

“Sitting on the House floor during our Congressman’s annual keynote address is not the place for disruption and waving protest signs. This behavior reflects a lack of professional maturity and a blatant disregard for the rules of this body,” said House Minority Leader DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, in the statement.

The following day, Johnson proposed that the House “issue a formal reprimand” against Fields. 

House Rules Chair Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak and a member of the House majority, spoke against the idea, saying she spoke to Fields about it, and “further transgressions … will not be tolerated in the chamber.”

Fields spoke in his defense, noting in part that “federal agents murdered multiple American citizens, including shooting a nurse in the back,” a reference to the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota. 

Fields’ description drew immediate objections from Republican members of the House minority.

“It’s an insult to every member here,” said Rep. Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River. “Maybe it was hidden from the cameras or not but that’s an insult. If a member here has an opinion, they can express it in public speech, they can put it on social media, they can shout it on a street corner on the soap box, they can take part in marches, they could even do it as we see in special orders as long as it’s done without objection.”

During a break in formal debate, Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, called Fields’ description “bullshit,” a comment loud enough to be heard across the House chamber.

“I yelled bullshit because Zack Fields called ICE a bunch of murderers,” she said after the House adjourned for the day.

The vote to reprimand Fields arrived on the same day that lawmakers took up a contentious vote to extend a state declaration of disaster that began when ex-Typhoon Halong devastated Western Alaska last year.

The House majority also attempted to force a vote on the state’s fast-track supplemental budget bill, something opposed by the minority and another factor in the day’s tensions.

At one point in debates, Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, called a halt to proceedings in order to verbally dress down Saddler.

The day ended with the resolution against Fields still tabled and unlikely to come up again.  

“And looking back, you know, probably there was a better way to do it,” Fields said afterward about his actions during Begich’s speech. “Obviously it was not in accordance with the procedure. But it’s like, what do we do when there are these outrageous acts and some people don’t even want to acknowledge them? … I think that’s a challenge every citizen of conscience faces every day.”

As for the sign? Fields said it’s already been recycled.

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The Trump administration has already put money into a huge and controversial mining project by investing in a company that would benefit from the development.

Now the administration is considering putting federal money into another aspect of the project: the proposed Ambler Access Project that would put a 211-mile industrial road through the currently undisturbed lands in the foothills of the Brooks Range mountains.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum discussed the idea of federal investment in the Ambler Road during a brief news conference in Anchorage on Thursday.

“I’d say the discussions are ongoing, but there’s a sense of urgency around this,” he said at the news conference, held at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport during a stopover in a trip by administration officials to an energy conference in Japan. Gov. Mike Dunleavy met with Burgum and other officials during the stopover but was not part of Japan trip.

The Ambler Access Project is sponsored by an Alaska state economic agency, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. It would link the existing road system with the remote Ambler mining district in Northwest Alaska. That region holds large amounts of copper, and that has been much of the focus of exploration to date, though there are other minerals as well in the region.

Trilogy Metals Inc., based in Canada, is the main company operating the Ambler mining district and the company in which the Trump administration has invested $36.5 million. Trilogy has partnered with South32, an Australian mining company, to promote Ambler development.

Burgum said the lack of road access that has stymied commercial development in the remote region is due to change, now that President Donald Trump approved the Ambler Access Project, reversing a Biden administration decision.

Because of Trump’s go-ahead decision, “we think that the financing for the road is actually not going to be that difficult. There’s multiple parties that want to participate,” Burgum said at the news conference.

The Ambler Access Project is planned as an industrial-only road, with no public access, he noted. The plan is for industrial users to repay the government for road construction, and the nation needs the minerals that are in the Ambler region, he said. For those reasons, federal investment in the road makes sense, he said.

“The U.S. is actively considering whether to participate in financing or maybe even be one of the equity partners in that road itself,” he said. Getting enough financial support for the road will not be a problem, he said. “Because the resource there is so rich, I think the road financing will come together,” he said.

In October, when Trump announced his approval of the Ambler project, he also announced the investment in Trilogy Metals, which gained the federal government a 10% stake in the company.

The Ambler Access Project has drawn widespread criticism from environmentalists, tribal governments and others.

Critics of the mining road project have mostly cited environmental factors in their opposition, notably risks to the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and to salmon, both of which are important subsistence resources to hunters and fishers in Indigenous communities in the region.

But critics also object to the idea of public funding for a road to be used only by private industry. Although the project plan calls for the industrial users to repay the state for construction and maintenance, opponents of the Ambler Road argue that the project puts the state at too much financial risk.

On Monday, Ambler Road opponents released a study that found the project would cost the state $2 billion for construction, maintenance and financing.

That estimate is much higher than the cost estimates previously presented by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is coordinating studies and permitting of the project. A 2024 supplemental environmental impact statement put the cost at $765.2 million.

The new cost report, compiled by engineer Lois Epstein for the organization Defend the Brooks Range, does not consider the type of federal funding proposed by Burgum.

Ambler Road critics said it underscores some of the project’s risks, nonetheless.

“This report tells us what we already knew – this road is a bad deal for Alaskans,” Maddie Halloran, state director at the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement released Monday. “After widespread opposition from Alaskans during the environmental impact statement process, it’s adding insult to injury to have this project pushed through to benefit foreign mining companies. This isn’t economic growth for our state, it’s a giveaway that puts corporate profit ahead of Alaska’s communities and our environment.”

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The Alaska House of Representatives on Thursday postponed its final vote on a fast-track supplemental budget bill that would use the state’s largest savings account to cover some shortfalls in the current state budget.

Members of the House voted 21-19 to pull the bill from the House floor after it became clear that there were not enough votes to fund the bill from savings. 

Thirty votes are needed to spend from the Constitutional Budget Reserve; a vote to spend from the reserve failed 22-18 before legislators reversed course, rescinded their rejection and sent the bill back to the House Rules Committee. 

All members of the House’s multipartisan coalition majority voted in favor of the postponement; all members of the Republican House minority voted against it. 

Rep. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, was the only member of the minority to vote in favor of spending from the reserve. All legislators voted in favor of the underlying bill, even if they disagreed on how to pay for it.

A new vote on spending from the reserve could take place as early as Monday, but it might not be needed: On Friday, the Alaska Department of Revenue is expected to release a revised state budget forecast, and members of the House minority indicated they may be willing to bet that oil revenue from the Iran war will fill the gap.

“We have been blessed in this state. We have been blessed right now with the ability to look a little bit into the future … and notice that we have an additional amount of revenue that we have to spend. How incredible is that?” said Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna. 

Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage and co-chair of the House Finance Committee, said he does not believe oil prices will rise high enough and stay high enough to pay for the supplemental budget bill without savings.

If Alaska North Slope oil prices were to average $90 per barrel between March 10 and June 30, that would raise an additional $300 million in state revenue — not enough to meet the need, Josephson said. Prices would have to average more than $105 per barrel for that period to avoid a withdrawal from savings, he said.

The bill in front of the House on Thursday would have spent $373.5 million from savings to unlock federal transportation grants, cover last year’s wildfire response spending, and pay for part of the cost of dealing with the disaster caused by ex-Typhoon Halong in Western Alaska. 

All those items are additions for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Lawmakers are simultaneously working on a separate budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The bill in front of the House on Thursday was adopted by the Senate on Wednesday after the six-person Senate minority negotiated the removal of $150 million in items in exchange for their votes on the bill and the draw from savings. Those items will still need to be funded later.

The biggest remaining item in the bill is $129.6 million to refill the state’s higher education investment fund, which was drained last year amid a veto-involved dispute between the Legislature and governor. 

The item that has garnered the most attention is smaller — $70.2 million that would be used to match federal grants for highway construction.

The state’s construction industry has been lobbying heavily for the Legislature to approve that money early so companies can make plans for the summer construction season.

“There is no way I would ever vote to gamble the future of our construction and oil and gas industry on months of oil prices in the most volatile market and geopolitical conditions of my lifetime,” said Rep. Zack Fields, D-Anchorage. 

Fields said any delay has a cost: “Even if oil prices come in higher for the rest of the year, the Department of Transportation cannot put out bids based on price forecasts. They have to have a budget bill passed by us.”

Without firm projects, construction companies cannot make hiring decisions, he said.

“This is now a starvation year for the construction industry,” Fields said.

The postponement preserves some political leverage for the 19 Republican members of the House minority. Because 30 votes are needed to spend from the reserve and there are 21 lawmakers in the coalition majority, money can’t be spent from the reserve without at least nine minority members in support.

After the floor vote, House Minority Leader DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, said the vote was not about leverage, but, but that the minority voted to protect savings ahead of Friday’s forecast. 

She pointed out that as currently written, the bill would have authorized lawmakers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars from the reserve, regardless of how much extra money the state earns from the Iran war. 

“What we were really doing is making sure that we didn’t just give a full, free opportunity to take money from our savings and spend $378 million without any controls whatsoever.”

Republican lawmakers said they had not seen the revenue forecast yet, but expressed confidence in increasing oil prices, despite uncertainty around the Iran war.

“There’s a saying in the infantry, ‘no plan survives first contact with the enemy,’ right? So I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Iran war,” said Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks and a veteran of the Iraq war.

“I can tell you, there’s been a lot of oil and gas infrastructure that has been blown up, and you generally can’t rebuild that stuff in a day,” he said. “So I don’t expect, personally, oil to be like $150. It is going to be higher than it was three weeks ago, probably for a while.” 

But members of the House majority were clearly frustrated by the delay.

“Volatility is a 10 out of 10 right now,” said Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham. “I’ve never seen a responsible finance committee or responsible leadership in the House make such an effort to gamble on the future in terms of oil prices.” 

Rep. Calvin Schrage, D-Anchorage, serves as co-chair of the House Finance Committee.

He pointed to past forecasts where revenues did not materialize and budgets had to be revised, and called the minority members’ move irresponsible. 

“That’s what they were suggesting today, that we rely on a forecast — unrealized, unpredictable, uncertain money to finance a budget when industry and Alaskans are asking for certainty. I mean, as recently as last year, we saw the folly of that sort of budgeting methodology, and it’s irresponsible.”

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Lingít clan leaders L’eiwtú Éesh Herman Davis and Aanyáanáx Ray Wilson will receive honorary doctorates of laws from the University of Alaska Southeast during the May 3 spring commencement ceremony at UAS in Juneau.

UAS announced the awards for Davis and Wilson, as well as other distinguished Southeast Alaskans, on Friday.

Davis, of Sitka, is clan leader of the L’uknax.adí, from Kayaashka Hít (Platform House). He “has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication as he has worked to ensure that his knowledge of the Tlingit language, culture, traditions and history is preserved and passed on,” UAS said in its announcement.

“Davis has generously shared his extensive Traditional Ecological Knowledge, identified key historical locations on the landscape and worked with scholars to preserve Tlingit place names,” UAS stated. “As a master-level birth speaker, Davis has taught Tlingit language and dance for 50 years through the Sitka Native Education Program and Noow Tlein Dance Group, integrating storytelling, song, and dance into lessons and helping build an extensive curriculum to share with others. He has collaborated with co-awardee Aanyáanáx Ray Wilson to repatriate significant ceremonial pieces, including a Raven helmet.”

Davis and Wilson worked for decades to repatriate the Raven helmet that Ḵ’alyáan of the Kiks.ádi clan wore during an 1804 battle in Sitka against Russian colonists. 

The state-run Sheldon Jackson museum announced in December that it would return the helmet to the care of Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and Kiks.ádi clan members, in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Wilson, of Juneau, is clan leader of the Kiks.ádi, from G̱agaan Hít (the Sun House).

In Friday’s release, UAS stated that Wilson “has shown remarkable leadership in sharing Tlingit dance, stories, practices, and values, and has shifted the paradigm for how museums work with and represent Indigenous Peoples.” 

“As a Tlingit culture-bearer, Wilson taught dance and culture for 25 years with the All Nations’ Children dance group (Lda Kut Naax Sati Yatx’i), and helped collaboratively develop a tool that teaches children about the Tlingit language and culture through music,” UAS said “Wilson worked with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to ensure traditional cultural protocols were followed while restoring a ceremonial sculpin hat, and advised the American Museum of Natural History on integrating Indigenous perspectives into renovations, ensuring that Tlingit culture and traditions were represented as living and dynamic.”

UAS also announced Friday that it will confer an honorary doctorate of laws on Younce Kóo oo Wóo Russell Dick, of Hoonah, from the Kaagwaantaan (Eagle/Wolf) Clan.

Dick “is a catalyst for innovation and economic growth throughout Alaska and beyond,” UAS said. “As president and chief executive officer of Huna Totem Corporation, Dick has been an extraordinary leader in sustainable tourism, cultural stewardship, and workforce development.”

UAS also noted that Dick helped transform Icy Strait Point into a globally recognized destination.

“Throughout his career, Dick has held key leadership roles at Sealaska Corporation, Alaska Dream Cruises, Haa Aani, LLC, and Icy Strait Whale Adventures (Three Wolves Charters), and served as vice chair of the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority Board of Directors,” UAS stated. 

The university in recent years has honored several Alaska Native leaders with honorary doctorate awards. In 2024 it conferred an honorary doctorate of education on Gooch Tláa/Kéet Tláa/Anne Johnson, a cultural educator and culture bearer who has contributed to the Sitka Native Education Program for some 50 years. 

In 2021 UAS conferred an honorary doctorate of education on Pauline Duncan, a teacher and culture bearer of Sitka who created many culturally relevant classroom materials for Native children in her decades as a classroom teacher. 

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The head of the Alaska Division of Elections will not share legal advice that led to the state’s decision to send an extended voter list to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Director Carol Beecher told state senators Wednesday that she will not waive attorney-client privilege as state lawmakers examine last year’s decision to give the Trump administration a detailed list of Alaska voters.

Alaska is one of 12 states that have either turned over their voter lists or have said they plan to comply with a nationwide request, according to records kept by the Brennan Center, a critic of the administration’s request.

Alaska and Texas are also the only states to have signed a memorandum of understanding that would allow the Department of Justice to pick individual voters for eventual removal from state lists of eligible voters.

Neither elections officials nor the Alaska Department of Law have explained why the state voluntarily complied with the request and signed the memo, or how compliance fits within the Alaska Constitution’s right to privacy.

Last week, Idaho became the latest state to reject the Department of Justice’s request for voter information, joining dozens of others.

That state’s Secretary of State said in a letter to federal officials that filings in a lawsuit showed that the department had shared sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, with “unauthorized persons,” and as a result, he could not guarantee that Idahoans’ identities would be safe.

In a pair of legislative hearings this week, Alaska lawmakers were unable to learn why Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Beecher, and the Alaska Department of Law reached a different conclusion.

Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, grilled Beecher during a Wednesday hearing, pressing her to release the legal advice she received before the Division of Elections turned over its voter list.

“This is an issue of grave concern for hundreds of thousands of Alaskans, and you have the ability to provide us with those documents. You have the ability to waive any potential privilege. Would you be willing to do that?” he asked.

“At this point, I am not willing to waive that privilege,” she said. 

Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, asked Beecher whether the department made a mistake by sharing the voter data and signing the memo that would allow the federal government to single out individual Alaskans.

“I do not, at this juncture, believe that the division made a mistake in signing the MOU,” she said.

This week’s toughest questions came from Democratic lawmakers. Beecher and Dahlstrom are both Republicans, and Dahlstrom is also a candidate for governor in this fall’s elections.

Republican lawmakers were generally silent in this week’s hearings. 

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was “in an awkward position” and reached out to a variety of experts in an attempt to avoid bias in a hearing he held on Monday.

During that hearing, Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, said he sees the state’s compliance as something like following the speed limit.

“When the federal government makes a law, we’re expected to follow it … it’s the federal government’s job, through whomever, to ensure that law is followed, and from what I understand, the federal government was merely attempting to make sure that Alaska followed the National Voter Registration Act,” he said.

The information transmitted to the Department of Justice goes beyond the publicly available voter information purchasable from the Division of Elections for $20. 

It contains personally identifying information, such as birthdates, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

In a legal analysis performed last month, legislative attorneys called the DOJ’s request “unprecedented” and said the division’s handover would be legal only if the federal government requested the information “in compliance with federal law” and used “the information only for governmental purposes authorized under law.”

As of Wednesday, three separate federal judges — in Oregon, California and Michigan — have ruled that the federal government’s request is not in compliance with federal law. 

Of the 48 states and the District of Columbia that have been asked for their voter lists, 29 and DC are fighting the federal government in court. The federal government has won none of those cases to date.

Legislative attorney Andrew Dunmire said he is also unaware of any federal law that allows the federal government to single out individual voters for removal from voter lists, as the MOU states.

On Wednesday, Beecher said the Department of Justice has not yet requested that any voters be removed from Alaska’s list. In addition, Dahlstrom said in December that the state would comply with the MOU only if the federal government’s actions are legal.

But with the Alaska Department of Law and the Division of Elections stonewalling legislators, it isn’t clear what the state considers a legal request. 

In September, the Justice Department told Stateline that it is sharing the voter data with the Department of Homeland Security, and the Trump administration has previously said it intends to input the voter lists into a nationwide registry to look for noncitizens.

The DHS tool for that effort has repeatedly flagged citizens in error, ProPublica reported last month.

Speaking to legislators this week, former Alaska attorney general Bruce Botelho advised lawmakers to continue searching for the legal advice given to elections officials by the Alaska Department of Law.

He also suggested that legislators consider filing a lawsuit to have the agreement with the Department of Justice declared illegal.

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In a speech to the Alaska Legislature this week, Alaska Rep. Nick Begich III urged state lawmakers to boost the development of a proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline.

“The federal path is largely cleared, but investors also need state level clarity, fiscal predictability and simplicity,” Begich said. “Scrutinize it carefully, model it thoroughly. But my request to you is not to become a roadblock.”

But legislators who are dealing with the pipeline on a daily basis say they don’t have answers to basic questions, including how much the pipeline will cost and whether the gas it carries will be affordable to Alaskans.

“I have not seen any figures,” said Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage and chair of the Senate Resources Committee. 

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said legislators are not going to be a roadblock.

“We’re not going to throw sand in the works. Everybody wants a pipeline. We all hope that it comes about, but it’s got to be done properly and make sure that we know what’s going on.”

Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said he has heard “from very credible sources” that the price of gas through the pipeline could be $50 per million cubic feet by 2046. 

The current cost of gas from Cook Inlet for Southcentral Alaska is about $10 per MCF. 

“Just imagine if you have utilities locked into 30-year contracts for gas at $50 an MCF. That would be catastrophic,” Wielechowski said. “That’s the sort of thing that we’re trying to protect Alaskan consumers all up and down the Railbelt from — an absolute catastrophe to our economic system.”

As currently proposed, the pipeline project consists of two phases. The first phase includes an 807-mile pipeline from the North Slope to the west side of Cook Inlet, with a tie-in to existing natural gas infrastructure around Anchorage.

The second phase would extend the pipeline to the Kenai Peninsula, where an export terminal would be built. The second phase would also include a processing plant on the North Slope.

One year ago, the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation sold 75% of the trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline project to Glenfarne, an international developer.

Since the acquisition, Glenfarne has signed a number of nonbinding agreements with potential gas purchasers and gas sellers, but it has not disclosed estimates for the project’s cost, and it hasn’t disclosed what it expects the cost of gas to be.

Last year, company officials said they expected to make an investment decision by the end of 2025. In a subsequent filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, they said they would make the decision in February. A new timeline hasn’t been made public.

The lack of data is particularly problematic because legislators are considering whether to offer a property tax break to pipeline developers.

Those taxes are significant. Because Alaska does not have a statewide income tax or sales tax, its state budget suffers when people move into the state. More people means more demand for things like schools, parks and roads, but no increased revenue to pay for those things.

Economists have called that the “Alaska disconnect.”

Alaska has a 2% property tax on oil and gas infrastructure. Most of that money is passed on to municipalities, which use it for local needs.

In December, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he was considering a proposal to cap that property tax at 0.2% for the natural gas pipeline, creating a payment in lieu of taxes system.

“That bill should be next week,” Dunleavy said during a Thursday news conference with U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, confirming the 0.2% rate will be part of the new legislation.

“Last couple weeks, we’ve been working with municipalities, getting their input as to what this should look like before (we) put the bill out,” he said. “So look forward to probably next week on that PILT bill, so that we can look at the economics of this line and also ways to ensure that municipalities benefit from this directly.”

This week, Begich expressed some support for a lower property tax rate, saying it could encourage people to invest in the pipeline.

“The classic 2% tax burden that would apply, say, to a $50 billion asset, would be a billion dollars in cash flow early in the project’s life cycle,” Begich said. “If that cash flow coming out of the project lowers the rate of return for investors, they’re not going to show up and invest. And so we need to make sure that our tax policy is A, doing what’s right for Alaskans. B, is not impeding the ability for the project to move forward. And I think we can do both of those things with some creative thinking and conversations with the industry.”

While a lower tax rate would benefit pipeline developers, it has the potential to harm residents who live near the pipeline. 

If pipeline construction and operation mean more people moving to Alaska and municipalities are unable to raise revenue to meet the resulting demand for services, local governments could be forced to raise taxes or cut basic services in order to pay for the pipeline subsidy.

Last week, the Senate Resources Committee introduced Senate Bill 275, which imposes some transparency requirements on the pipeline project, eliminates a tax exemption relevant to the project, and imposes a new surcharge on gas processing plants. 

That bill was introduced just days before Begich urged lawmakers not to be a “roadblock.”

Giessel, who chairs the resources committee, said she didn’t think Begich’s comments were directed at her or her committee’s bill.

“We’re not being a roadblock. We’re doing exactly what we’re supposed to do according to our constitution,” she said.

Asked whether he was thinking of Giessel’s bill during his speech, Begich said, “It was not my direct intention. No, I think it’s always worth having the conversation about the tax structure, about the incentive structure, though that’s an ongoing discussion that happens at the state legislature in Alaska. I think it’s important that when we have those conversations, they’re done in a way that is going to encourage, rather than discourage, industry from coming in and saying, ‘Yes, this is a good place for us to invest in.’”

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Begich said the state would benefit by getting more information from Glenfarne.

“I welcome more information,” Begich said. “I recognize that they’ve got certain restraints on what they can share. But look, I’d like to see more information shared. I’d like to see more of the economics of the project shared so we can understand what the full potential is and what’s on the table. I believe that’s going to come with time, but more information is better.”

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A monumental moment for state leaders is expected Friday with the release of an official forecast of how much extra revenue Alaska’s government may get due to the Iran war.

Oil prices have skyrocketed since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, which had legislators on Thursday commenting on the grim reality the conflict may mean hundreds of millions of extra dollars for Alaska.

“I understand that we’re all feeling awkward about the unfortunate reason for the optimism, which is that mankind can’t stop itself from fighting,” said Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, who co-chairs the House Finance Committee.

The day also saw lawmakers pull a $373.5 million supplemental budget off the House floor due to a bitter disagreement about tapping into a reserve fund to pay for it. Dissenters, all members of the Republican minority caucuses, said that decision should be made after the updated revenue forecast.

“I find it really interesting that we’re taking up this item the day before we actually know how much money we have and what the size of our deficit is,” Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, said during floor debate. He said after talking to executive and legislative financial staff “I’m pretty confident that the vast majority of items in this are probably going to be able to be funded in this specific bill through the current (year) surplus.”

Members of the bipartisan House majority accused the minority caucus of playing Russian roulette with critical budget items such as transportation projects scheduled this year. The supplemental budget includes $70.2 million needed to secure about $630 million in federal funds for such projects — and public and private transportation leaders have been imploring lawmakers to move quickly on those funds so the window for this year’s work season isn’t missed.

“We’re saying, ‘Eh, we like to build, but we want to see what the revenues are later on,’” said Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, another House Finance Committee co-chair. “We’re going to continue to wait. We’re going to continue to leave people hanging. We’re at the verge of being too late. I’m getting texts as of this morning from industry leaders that if we don’t deploy this money now we’re jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars that would hit the road this summer. What are we doing?”

The transportation funds are needed because Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed them last year as part of a political fight involving the Cascade Point Ferry Terminal, which his administration favors and allocated tens of millions of dollars toward. Legislators voted to divert $37 million in so-called Juneau access funds to other projects — and questioned his support of the terminal since a state study says it will have negligible benefits for travlers, but benefit a planned gold mine in the area. Dunleavy subsequently issued his veto.

Other significant items in the supplemental budget are $98.7 million for wildfire response and up to $75 million for disaster relief.

Also included is about $130 million to replenish the Alaska Higher Education Investment Fund, which provides scholarships, after lawmakers tapped it last year to cover a deficit in the current year’s budget when the House minority blocked an effort to tap the state’s $3 billion Constitutional Budget Reserve, which is typically used for shortfalls.

The lack of minority support was again key during Thursday’s supplemental budget vote.

The House passed the supplemental budget by a unanimous 40-0 vote, following the Senate’s unanimous passage of it Wednesday. But a House vote to fund the budget by tapping the CBR fell short by a 22-18 vote since a three-fourths majority is necessary to access the fund. Rep. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, was the lone minority crossover to the bipartisan majority coalition vote.

That resulted in the House majority voting to rescind passage of the supplemental budget and pull it from the floor, returning it to the Rules Committee. The House then adjourned until Monday — and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, said it is not a certainty the bill will be brought back to the floor then even if the revenue forecast is known, since there also needs to be assurance the budget can be funded.

The $64 question: What will oil prices average this year and next?

Alaska lawmakers last spring passed a budget that balanced if North Slope oil prices average $64 a barrel for the fiscal year ending June 30. The official revenue forecast at the time was prices would average $68. But a grim revenue forecast in December stated this year’s prices would be $65.48 and next year’s about $62.

Oil was $92 a barrel on Tuesday.

House majority lawmakers said Thursday that if oil prices were to average $90 a barrel between now and June 30 it would mean about $300 million in extra revenue. That means the supplemental budget would still need additional funds — and presumes the war in Iran will last that long and cause sufficient disruption to oil markets in the process.

However, some analysts say oil could go above $100 a barrel. Oil prices at that level for a full year would generate an extra $1.5 billion more for the state compared to the most recent revenue forecast.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

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Ten Southeast Alaska radio stations that have been in receivership since February 2025, including KINY and TAKU 105 in Juneau, are in the final stages of being purchased by Cliff Dumas as part of the Alaska First Media company he formed last summer.

For people listening to the six stations in Juneau, and two apiece in Sitka and Ketchikan, the agreement isn’t likely to mean any noticeable changes in the short term, Dumas said in an interview Thursday. But for people familiar with seeing the radio outlet’s offices on Channel Drive, he noted operations are moving to a new site in the Mendenhall Mall as early as next month.

“The construction is underway right now,” he said. “We’ve got the studios built and they’re being wired. Equipment has been ordered. Our engineer’s here for the next month and a half to facilitate it. So I might be ambitious, but I’m hoping that we’re in there in mid-April.”

The station purchase deal, which Dumas said is now in escrow, comes after extensive financial and operational turmoil involving the similarly named Local First Media Group, which owned six radio stations in Texas and 10 in Alaska until filing for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in May 2025. That filing occurred after the company was placed into receivership when it defaulted on a loan of nearly $8.2 million to a Canadian financial company.

Where it may get confusing for some people is this is the second time Dumas has purchased the stations in the past four years.

Dumas is paying about $1.3 million to reacquire the Alaska stations, which includes about $381,000 for the stations and $900,000 for property associated with them, according to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing. He previously purchased the stations in Alaska and Texas in a $1.3 million deal in 2022 as the majority owner (80%) of BTC USA Holdings Management. The other 20% was owned by Local First Media Group, headed by Bryan Woodruff.

What happened after that is subject to a lot of dispute and accusations involving Dumas, Woodruff and other stakeholders. But ultimately Local First Media and six affiliates ended up in last year’s bankruptcy proceedings, with Dumas asserting his affiliate groups were not part of the defaulted loan by Local First Media.

Dumas formed Alaska First Media Inc. last July and is its sole owner, according to the State of Alaska’s business license database. He said extensive staff turnover that occurred in recent years has stabalized during the past year, including his daughter Grace as a newscaster, and his wife Lisa as the company’s vice president and an afternoon show host.

“We’re a family of broadcasters and it’s a joy to be able to do that in one place that we call home,” he said.

The stations involved in the purchase, as listed by radioinsight.com are:

Juneau

• Country “Taku 105” 105.1 KTKU Juneau
• Hot AC “Mix 106” 106.3 KSUP Juneau
• Sports “Hawk 107.9” K300AB Juneau/KSUP-HD2
• News/Talk 630 KJNO/97.5 K248DQ Juneau
• Full Service Oldies 800 KINY/94.9 K235DA/103.5 K278GE Juneau and additional translators 103.9 K280DX Angoon, 103.7 K279AF Haines, 103.9 K280ED Hoonah, 103.5 K278GE Kake and 104.7 K284AM Skagway
• Classic Hits “93.3/1330 KXJ” KXXJ/K227DP Juneau

Ketchikan

• “Gateway Country” 106.7 KGTW Ketchikan/98.3 K252EJ Wrangell/99.5 K258AD Craig
• Talk/AC 930 KTKN/93.3 K227DQ/97.5 K248AI Ketchikan

Sitka

• Hot AC “Mix 103” 103.1 KSBZ Sitka
• Full Service Classic Hits 1230 KIFW/102.3 K272FV Sitka

Dumas’ company also operates Rock 99.9 KFMJ in Ketchikan, according to the website.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

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Following a month-long community fundraising effort last year to cover $1.15 million in hospital and regulatory fees, 4-year-old Cade Jobsis was selected for a phase 3 clinical trial underway in Dallas.

“When we had heard that it was getting up and running, they were getting through the final phases, we just wanted to be available and give them every opportunity to say, ‘You know, we would love for Cade to be selected,’” said his mother, Emma Jobsis.

Cade was diagnosed with hereditary spastic paraplegia, SPG50, two years ago. It’s a rare neurodegenerative disorder that can lead to loss of cognitive and motor function, and eventually more serious complications like epilepsy. Since the disease is rare, Jobsis has said research and funding can be hard to come by.

The therapy, Melpida, was originally pursued by Terry Pirovolakis, whose son Michael was diagnosed with SPG50 at 15 months old. It’s meant to help express a functional copy of a gene. The third round of trials focuses on efficacy, and will follow Cade for five years post-treatment. It’s also the final round before applying for clinical approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Jobsis brought Cade down to Texas for the trials about a month ago, returning to Juneau to spend time with family after a delay and returning to sign official consent forms in early March. Since then, they’ve been doing a lot of medical prep work.

“We’ve been doing the panels to make sure that he’s healthy and eligible,” Jobsis said. “We’ve done blood tests, where they’re looking at everything, COVID tests. We did an EKG and echocardiogram, and an EEG.”

While Cade is currently scheduled to receive the treatment on April 1, shortly before his fifth birthday, it’s still a waiting game for the family.

“When we were signing the documents, I thought that this weight would be lifted, like, ‘We’re here, we’re doing it,’ and it hasn’t happened yet,” she said. “I think because we’ve had so many delays, and so many battles, so many hurdles, that I feel like my nervous system is just ready for the ground to be pulled out from under us again. And I think I will feel that relief once he is out of anesthesia on the treatment day. Once he’s woken up from anesthesia and he has received the gene therapy, I think that weight is going to be lifted.”

To prevent Cade from getting sick, they’ve stayed somewhat isolated within the medical district. Jobsis said they’ve been coping by FaceTiming family, trying new foods and getting outside to enjoy some clearer weather.

“He likes to go outside and kick the soccer ball around. It has been a fun, new thing that we’ve been doing, because in Juneau we use the field house a lot, but it’s hard to find outdoor space that has a forgiving ground,” she said.

Now, Jobsis is trying to figure out how to continue sharing their story online through Cure for Cade.

“There’s so many people that are invested in this story,” Jobsis said. “I joked with my husband the other day that I feel like so many people have donated and especially that I feel like people have paid for a subscription to our life, almost. I want so badly to give everybody the rest of the story, to know that what our town did, what they sacrificed and contributed, was so powerful. And I’m still trying to figure out how to keep telling that story, because I just want our town to know how important they are, because there’s a lot of places that you can live that would not show up the way that Juneau did.”

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

The post Cade Jobsis, 4, scheduled to receive novel gene therapy next month appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

A long-awaited playground at the Dzantik’i Heeni campus may teach students about municipal politics and the First Amendment, since a few commemorative bricks sold as fundraisers for the project are engraved with messages criticizing Juneau Assembly and school board members.

The messages are from Emil Mackey, a former Juneau Board of Education member, who said in an interview Wednesday he made the donations for the bricks — after his departure from office last fall — to criticize local leaders’ reluctance to fully fund the playground.

“When they chose not to fully fund it, but instead to rely on fundraising, I exercised my First Amendment right to merely point out, using these bricks, that other priorities were chosen over the park to be funded by the Assembly,” he said.

Mackey said the Assembly in the past has promised to fund a park at the site, but instead has withheld some money while spending on other projects including a downtown park, moving City Hall and the gondola at Eaglecrest Ski Ara.

Messages on four bricks purchased by Mackey for $250 each raised concerns among officials: “The City Prioritized A New City Hall Over a New Playground,” “The City Funded a Gondola Over Fully Funding this Project,” “The Assembly Fully Funded the Downtown Park. Not this one,” and “Jenny Thomas voted against funding this park on 1-15-2026.” He also purchased additional bricks with the name of his business and family members.

District and city officials say while they consider the statements inappropriate — and not entirely accurate — the bricks will likely be part of the playground since Mackey could challenge their exclusion on free speech grounds.

“I can’t believe that we are forced to place these bricks at a playground, but that’s where we’re at,” Elizabeth Siddon, the board’s vice president, said in an interview Wednesday.

Thomas, a school board member elected last October, said the brick describing her vote isn’t fully accurate and in context, but she’s not particularly concerned.

“It’s not the first time he’s publicly attacked me,” she said. “I’m sure it’s not going to be the last.”

Mayor Beth Weldon, in a text message to the Independent on Wednesday, stated “It shows poor character to make a playground fundraiser a political platform.”

“We will not try and halt it,” she wrote. “As Emil is no longer on the board I don’t think we will react in any way other than to possibly call him out.”

Municipal Attorney Emily Wright, in an email to the Juneau Independent on Wednesday, stated that general guidance offered to the school board “advised that any response must be consistent with the US and Alaska Constitution as well as JSD School Board policies.”

“We noted that courts have allowed schools to limit speech that is threatening, lewd, vulgar, promotes drug use, is obscene, or is speech that causes ‘substantial disruption,’” she wrote. “However, statements that are passive, non-disruptive, and political speech generally cannot be limited. The First Amendment does not require statements to be true in order to be protected.”

Deciding what to do is ultimately up to the school board, according to Wright. But Mackey said he will indeed challenge a decision that excludes only his bricks.

“If I am approached with legal action or if the bricks are not put down I plan to defend myself and to assert my First Amendment rights,” he said.

A playground at Dzantik’i Heeni has been a priority of many local officials who say Lemon Creek is a neglected neighborhood for public recreational facilities, and the campus is the only one in Juneau with elementary students that lacks a proper playground.

The Assembly on Monday approved $493,000 for the project, bringing total funding from all sources to about $1.3 million — short of a higher total project cost Mackey said he expected city leaders to provide. Among the other major sources of existing funds is a $250,000 matching grant from the Benito and Frances C. Gaguine Foundation, with the “Buy a Brick” campaign raising more than $70,000 and the school board agreeing to provide up to $180,000 to secure the rest of matching funds.

The fundraising website for the brick campaign is no longer active, which Siddon said she believes is due to concerns resulting from the bricks purchased by Mackey.

“There’s no reason we couldn’t still be fundraising to offset the cost of that playground,” she said.

Concern about public reaction to the bricks if they are installed at the playground has been expressed at recent school board meetings.

“Since this is a school playground it needs to be an environment that is safe and welcoming to all of our students,” Melissa Cullum, another board member elected last fall, said during a Feb. 10 meeting. “And I just wonder, if you call it a First Amendment speech issue, where that line is to where we’re keeping our kids safe from these kinds of adult pettiness in a space that’s supposed to be really safe and welcoming.”

Siddon, who during a board meeting Tuesday night said “I just want to make sure the public knows we are aware there are four bricks with disparaging comments on them,” expressed concern Wednesday the bricks will be quickly vandalized. Mackey said he expects if that happens they will be repaired or replaced as any other bricks would be.

When asked about concerns about unfavorable reactions to the messages on his bricks Mackey said “my purpose wasn’t to gain a reaction or to get revenge or anything like that.”

“We have a problem here where people don’t listen to traditional media,” he said. “They don’t even know how their schools are funded. They don’t listen to traditional media. And a lot of politicians are let off the hook — and when I say politicians, I mean good politicians and bad politicians — and not held accountable for their votes and prioritizations. I wanted to leave a record since they were allowing us to leave a record, a memoiral of how this park was happening by buying a brick.”

Wright stated that while similar brick fundraisers have occurred in Juneau, “we are not aware of an issue such as this coming up before.” Siddon said future campaigns will have “more guardrails” defining what type of language donors can use, since a lack of such guidelines is largely responsible for the current situation.

Mackey said he has his own thoughts about what officials should learn from the incident.

“The lesson is if you don’t want to empower people to use their voice don’t privatize what should be a publicly funded project through First Amendment brick sales,” he said.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

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